


Something Wicked Here Is

by Pluttskutt



Category: Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Fic or Treat, Gen, first time writing origin characters but i think i done well, this is a halloween theme thing so it's spooky, warning for blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-13 02:50:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21236927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pluttskutt/pseuds/Pluttskutt
Summary: My gift in the fic-or-treat held in the fandom! The group is in the Denerim Alienage, and something isn't right in the orphanage.





	Something Wicked Here Is

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DearHeartx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DearHeartx/gifts).

> Happy Halloween! 👻 I don't celebrate myself but I was in fic or treat exchange on tumblr. This is my gift and I hope it's spooky enough. Writing Rihari was fun and I really got out of my element doing a spooky fic. I hope you enjoy this Whimsy!

A foul odour of rot crept out from the orphanage. Rihari didn't want to enter. How much more would she see once she did? Not that she wouldn't find out what was going on. Something had wounded the poor beggar deeply and she would help. 

Alistair took the lead as they walked inside. He had been quiet as they had wandered the Alienage, witnessing how elves lived in the city. Not even Zevran had properly prepared them for these horrors. How long had the orphanage been like this? Many years, considering the adult beggar who had escaped it.

Alistair looked around them at the dark walls. They could all hear them —screams from children and women, spirits trapped by the horror that had lead to their death.

Ser Otto walked ahead of them and furrowed his brow. He spoke slow, but he knew he had been right. "The... feeling is intense here. This is the right place. I know not if it's the work of the maleficarum —but there is definitely evil here. You go first; I will follow."

"Such pain," Wynne whispered, hands tracing the air as if she could feel the spirits around them.

"So not only I can hear screaming," Alistair mumbled, and put a hand to the door in front of them. He looked at Rihari, making sure she was ready. As he opened the door a spirit manifested before them. It was an elf child, a boy. He turned from them so they couldn't see his face and ran away down the corridor whimpering. He vanished into nothing at the end of the corridor.

Alistair had to grab Rihari's arm to stop her from running after the elf child. They couldn't help. What they could do was defeat the demon causing all this.

She shook his hand off and walked down the dark corridor. A low humming travelled through the walls. It stood out from the screams, silencing them to be heard.

"Do you hear me, Ser Wilhem, Ser Wilhem?" A child sang. "I'm a falling, Ser Wilhem, Ser Wilhem, today." 

Alistair turned around frantically to see the cause of the singing but it didn't come from behind them, where something could perhaps hide behind the trashed shelves, and before them was only a wall.

"I'm a maiden Ser Wilhem, Ser Wilhem. But I'm dying Ser Wilhem, Ser Wilhem, in pain." When the child stopped singing the screams came back.

The group continued in silence into the next corridor. The spirit child appeared again but behind them. As he ran through Rihari she felt a chill colder than ice. He screamed, "No! Nooo!" and vanished into the wall. 

The door next to them opened and from the room appeared rabid hounds. The group sprung into action, protecting Ser Otto and killing the hounds. Wynne used her magic to create a protective barrier. Zevran drew his weapons and stayed by Alistair's side, the hounds outnumbered them by far. Even when struck by Alistair's sword, deep enough for them to bleed out, they didn't halt their vicious attacks. Wynne's magic froze them solid, yet they fought through it. Never before had any of them encountered hounds so full of bloodlust it overcame their pain. 

Once they had been taken care of, the group heard the screams again. No barking. No whimper. Only screams. No one would care about the dead hounds; just like no one cared about the dead elves. They walked into the room the hounds had been in. Gnawed bones piled up on the floor, stripped clean of meat. The hounds had left nothing to waste. The meat must be what had made them rabid, but it couldn't have been long before they had begun to attack each other. Now they were out of their misery and no other hound would share their cruel fate.

Alistair stood at the doorway, staring at the corpses of the flock by his feet. He couldn't look into the room. "Let's just keep going," he urged on the others.

Blood puddles stank rotten eggs —just like the one outside. The more doors they opened —the further in they ventured— the viler the stench. The louder the screams.

Rihari's jaw was shut tight as they came upon the bones. Piles and piles of them in various sizes. A small skeleton had been crushed under a bookcase. Had the child been struck down at first or had the shemlen crushed the child themselves? What if the child had been alive and calling out but no one was there to hear? She shuddered.

"These poor children," Wynne said, "I can't imagine how frightened they were."

A whisper pleaded from the walls as if they wanted her to know their fear and pain. "Andraste, I don't want to go yet. Pleeease… It's so cold now… so cold…"

Rihari didn't say it out loud, but her anger for how shemlen treated her people grew, as did her resentment. They had slaughtered everyone in this orphanage—hunted children as part of their twisted fun. No one had come after to clean up the mess. Not that they cared. They wouldn't care now either. This story would be forgotten just like all others, and shemlen would pretend they treated city elves right. What was the point of doing anything to save this kingdom if it didn't save her people?

Zevran saw Rihari's tight grip around her weapon turning her knuckles white. Fury radiated from her and the others would soon feel it. "Rihari," Zevran put a hand on hers, "I know this pains you, my dear friend, but do not lose yourself to rage."

She put her hand over his, looked around and saw Alistair. His face was stuck in a horrid grimace as he too imagined what the children and women had been through. They locked eyes.

He nodded at her. "We will stop this demon." Determined, even when his face twisted in agony at what had taken place where they stood.

Screams echoed around them as they ventured further.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you liked it don't forget to hit that kudos button, and I'm always glad to hear your thoughts so comments are encouraged as well! Tata~


End file.
